Archives For business

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Polling Shows Voters Still Embrace Green

So maybe harder times are not hitting green goals that hard after all. Recent polling efforts targeting how citizens respond to green issues bears some surprisingly strong support for sustainability in the economy. The numbers come as a welcome counter to the Gallup poll that showed a continually declining support for the severity of global warming, suggesting that either support for green efforts were growing soft or that global warming may not be a great front runner for the movement.

ABC Green Polling

The necessity of environmental reorganization may be sinking deeper into the population. The polling questions by the Washington Post/ABC targeted the regulating of Greenhouse Gases by the government and showed considerable support—counter to the conservative voice of opposition with a strong presence in the media as of late. 75% of American voters are pro regulation with 54% being strongly in favor. Similarly, when asked as to their concern about rising costs associated with GHG regulation, 77% said they were concerned. It is reasonable to believe that, for many, despite their concern for higher prices they are still in favor of a more sustainable goal.

NBC Green Polling

The polling of NBC/Wall Street Journal is somewhat tempered, but still positive. Their more pointed question of whether we should regulate GHG if it will raise energy bills revealed 53% being in favor. Moreover, 68% of voters agreed with President Obama’s plans to devote $121 billion over ten years to develop green energy.

If the numbers carry some truth then we may be avoiding one of the worst fears of environmentalists and green company investors: the economic downturn and resulting financial worries will surmount years of growing interest (and capital) for green spending and policy. If sustainability in the marketplace can survive the worst financial crisis since the depression, then we may be poised for meaningful progress.

Economic 
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Making a Real "Green City"

Real Industrial EcosystemNews of green trends emerging in cities around the world is becoming commonplace to the point that visions of a “green city” are beginning to enter the minds of the populace, appearing in flashy renderings or news articles. The term incites thoughts of 100% solar power or hundreds of wind turbines on buildings or merely just bounding foliage on every corner. I found a prime example in a New York Times article speaking of plans for a Florida city to be run completely by PVs. When environmental critics come along and call such talk “fantasy,” they may not be mistaken because those technological tactics are not the basis for what will make our cities truly sustainable.

The true conversion to a sustainable economy is to rethink how we organize our cities and how their components can work together to achieve new levels of efficiency and production as part of a reflexively beneficial network. An ecology. If we look hard enough we can find instances of this mentality that have actually been successfully attempted. A prime example is i the city of Kalundborg, Denmark where industry and residents work as part of a functioning ecosystem rather than individual entities in close proximity. The names given to describe the creation are numerous: Industrial Symbiosis, Environmental Industry Ecology, Industrial Ecosystem—but they all spell progress. Continue Reading…

Urban Planning 
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The Deconstruction Economy

piles of bricksOne cannot talk about sustainability for long without eventually encountering “resources.” Every product stream, mechanical process and human action has a source of incoming energy. Our capitalistic market has a couple of favorites that craft the battlements for daily conflicts between corporations and citizens: wood, oil, water, coal. Businesses stuck in narrow focuses of how to utilize and maximize stores of natural resources are fending environmentalists off with a stick and the fight will only get more painful. Sooner or later they will lose. Our country will no longer drill for new oil and the amount of coal we burn each year will progressively decline. What will define the next surge of resource harvesting in the economy over the next century?

Well renewable energy is an easy pick. Wind and solar power will continue to be perfected to peak levels of efficiency and their position in the marketplace will continue to grow, but one of the greatest latent sources of value in our culture is decidedly unnatural. It is available almost anywhere in the country though its particular characteristics vary from one source to the next. Public demand for it is currently a small portion of the greater marketplace but it will only rise over time. The source is our existing buildings. The resulting growth market is deconstruction. Continue Reading…

Economic 
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Meters Can Make Us All a Little (Smart)er

This prefix has come to find a home in the discussion of sustainability. Some would take this to mean that being sustainable is just intelligent. This would be correct. Whether you are an environmentalist or not ecological responsibility makes sense on many different levels leaving it as the “smart” option. President Obama has already talked about our infrastructure and the need for a Smart-Grid. This loose term can mean a number of different things but one component of it is Smart-Metering and how what will soon become a fixture to all homes can help raise awareness and efficiency for both users and suppliers of energy. Even the term “Smart Meter” is a bit ambiguous and different companies use the name for different products: some that focus on making users smarter and others on making suppliers smarter. Both of these goals are important. Continue Reading…

Infrastructural 
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Hydrogen Cars? Still?

I am not exactly sure why we are still hearing about hydrogen fuel cells as means to power automobiles. The east coast now has a hydrogen fueling station thanks to the township of Hempstead, New York and the gracious compliments of the New York State Energy Research Development Authority. This tune came off the charts not long after it got there and now it is just a disturbing reminder for those of us that try to lobby for investment in sustainability by the country.

Countless people have already conveyed that Hydrogen cars, or more importantly a hydrogen infrastructure, is not viable for our country.

“Hydrogen cars are a poor short-term strategy, and it’s not even clear that they are a good idea in the long term. Because the prospects for hydrogen cars are so uncertain, we need to think carefully before we invest all this money and all this public effort in one area.”

– Alex Farrell, Assistant Professor of Energy and Resources at UC Berkeley

Farrell also points out that the cost to raise the fuel efficiency of gasoline powered cars is trivial to putting hydrogen vehicles into production. So why are we still hearing about this, let alone why is $2 million spent on a refueling station on long island? Then again, we have graduated to a different power of spending. Next to $2 trillion, what is a couple of million?

One answer is that a number of organizations do not want to look like they have wasted time and money on a technology and that somehow being able to say “Look, we built some! they work!” makes it all worth while. The truth is that in today’s market they do not need to do that. If there are any upsides for the auto companies in this recession it should be that they need no better excuse to push things off their drawing boards right into the trash. At a time where R&D dollars are less easily spent, no one would cast any blame on shelving (we can only hope permanently) time and effort to fuel cell powered cars.

This is just one more reminder of the misallocation of resources by a former administration that really had no genuine desire for strides in efficiency and sustainability. Most likely, it will not be the last.

Via CNET

Cultural 
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Hybrid Trains: Can’t Have Them Soon Enough

It is good to see that a technology sorely needed is approaching fruition to the real market. Cleantech.com reports on GE revealing its first hybrid locomotive said to reduce fuel consumption by 10% and emissions by up to 50%.

GE Shows First Hybrid Road Locomotive

One could ask, “So how much is that really?” Actually freight trains in the US have remarkable efficiency. Reuter’s reported that in 2007 one ton of freight in the US was moved at an average of 436 miles per gallon of fuel! Adding 10% to that number is nothing to scoff at.

Railroad Fuel Efficiency Sets New Record

Of course, this is for freight trains. Word has it that Bombardier is developing a hybrid passenger system for European markets. While saving fuel and lowering cost of freight transport is positive, lowering the costs of personal travel is a culture-changing advancement. In America we struggle with weening ourselves from automotive travel. While some point across the pond at Europe’s success, we have yet to make the cost and travel time competitive with flight and driving. This is an important step.

Economic 
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We Could Lose a Posterchild

As the outlook of our nation’s financial system comes into question so too has the progress of our country’s acceptance of sustainability been slowed. While the government continually downplays any goals of nationalization, the market has clearly presented how far it is from being convinced. So what happens to sustainability if the banks fail? Well aside from the lack of funding to innovation in the green industry, Bank of America has risen to be a model for green business in the U.S. and a lack of financial solvency would be a striking blow when the movement needs their example the most.

one-bryant-park

As we speak the final touches are going up on Bank of America’s new corporate headquarters at One Bryant Park (See here for full building case study) on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street in New York that will complete the city’s most environmentally conscious skyscraper. Designed by Cook+Fox Architects and striving to achieve LEED Platinum status from the U.S. Green Building Council, the tower is a testament to what can be achieved when sustainability is considered a priority.

The building provided an even better example of emerging green acceptance because of the nature of the client. While so many people question the cost vs. return of building green, this was a bank, one of the largest in the world, that was convinced of the benefits of an ecological end.

While the financial hardships of BoA have nothing to do with the construction of their new home, the timing could not have been worse as greentech companies are watching orders dry up and prices of their products falling. As of today, the bank claims their financial position is good and will require no further money from the government. We can only hope so.

Architectural 
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Who Says What is Green?

In a time of falling prices it is more important than ever to secure the value of sustainability into its next stage of the business cycle. With oil prices near two year lows and a frozen credit market it is easy for priorities to shift away from environmental goals replaced by trepidation over costs. As green business becomes more prominent it is essential to develop more elaborate benchmarks and systems of authenticity to assure that companies with green claims are delivering all that is currently so easy to advertise. Without this level of accountability, the value of green in the eyes of consumers could fall by the wayside just when green business needs it the most.

Continue Reading…

Cultural